We are Betsy, Greg and Chelsea Ball and we LOVE to travel. Collectively we have gone to more than 30 countries but we have a special appreciation and affection for Italy, France, Ireland and the rest of Europe. For us, planning a trip is part of the fun! Not everyone feels that way and not everyone has the time it takes to find the right hotels, seek out the perfect restaurant or pinpoint the trailhead for a fabulous hike. We would love to help you do that, and more. It is incredibly rewarding for us when people return from their travels and tell us that our suggestions and advice were the highlights of their trip. Our trip planning services, including travel coaching and custom itineraries, can help you have that same experience and make the most of your time traveling abroad.

Betsy has a degree in hospitality and has been teaching international business at a university in Texas for 15 years. Greg taught saxophone and directed the jazz band at the same university for 27 years. If you are a music lover, you need to know that he helps us find the perfect concerts, festivals and venues for you to enjoy what you love. He also helps us find hiking and biking routes that are perfect for those who enjoy the outdoors. This year, Betsy is teaching online and Greg has retired from the university, so we are traveling full time in Europe. We are working for wineries, housesitting, teaching English as a second language, and experiencing the European culture that we want to share with our clients. We both received our Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Certification in Wines & Spirits in 2015. We have been taking students and adult learners abroad for over 20 years. It has also been our great joy to travel abroad with our two children from the time they were very small. They are both in their 20s now and we know their travels have shaped their perspectives and worldview.

In fact, our daughter, Chelsea, is on the Euro Travel Coach team! She is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and has been working for Hart Davis Hart Wine Company for 3 years. While she was in school she was one of only 6 recipients nationwide of the Kopf Foundation Scholarship which gave them the opportunity to travel for 6 weeks to California, Italy and France during the harvest season to study wine. Through this opportunity and her work experience she has developed personal relationships with vintners and local producers that we are often able to share with our clients. Chelsea absolutely loves fabulous food, spectacular wines and unique travel experiences and she is incredible at seeking these out. She and her husband live in Copenhagen and travel regularly all over Europe, each time finding the best experiences for themselves and for our clients! Chelsea also lends a youthful vibrancy to our business, allowing us to keep up with trends and technology. Her travel planning skills are the best!

You might wonder why we want to help people make great travel plans. We think about it this way: A friend in the wine industry has a line in every piece of correspondence she sends that says “life is too short to drink crappy wine.” We love that! Life is also too short NOT to spend time doing what you love to do, for as long as you are able. If your kids are still at home you probably love being with them and watching their activities. If you’re a golfer, you might want to get out on the course any time it’s not raining! If you enjoy being active in the community and making a difference in the lives of others, then you should be spending time doing exactly that! Spend your time and energy doing what you love to do. If that’s not trip planning – but you love to travel – let Euro Travel Coach perform that task for you and do it well, so you can continue to do the things you love to do…and still go someplace fabulous!

There are so many things to see and do in Europe and you will definitely want to see the major tourist spots in the places you will visit. But we want you to get out there and meet the people and experience the local culture, too. We think you will have a better experience and understand the places you go better if you interact more with the people who live there than the other visitors. We want to give you the tools you need in order to handle any unexpected hiccups in your plan. We want to help you balance big cities with small towns, the hectic pace of tourist spots with the pure joy of being immersed in a new place with new people and fresh ideas. We want to help you balance the splurges with the simplicity of being frugal from time to time. And we think you should eat the fabulous food and drink the amazing wine and toast often with a pint of beer -- because that's what the locals do!

So do what you love and love what you do! Travel does that for us – we would relish the chance to share that passion with you! Drop us an email at betsy@eurotravelcoach.com and let's start talking about your travel dreams! Fill out our questionnaire and tell us about about you and your travel companions and where you would like to go. Allow us to put our passion and experience to work for you to make your next trip to Europe absolutely amazing. If it's your first time to travel abroad or you are a seasoned traveler, our travel coachingand custom itineraries to Italy, France, Ireland and the rest of Europe can help you plan the perfect trip!